Daily Thoughts: There is a quote
from St. Bede the Venerable that goes like this, “Let us speak the truth in our
hearts and not practice treachery with our tongues, so that by pouring forth
charity more and more in our hearts, the Spirit of truth may teach us
recognition of all truth.” In this day and age I might add a little something
to what St. Bede said, “…and not practice treachery with our tongues and our
fingers!” It is not only the treachery of the spoken word today; it is also the
treachery of the written word today. You find it on Twitter, Facebook and in
all social media today.
It amazes me how negative, hurtful,
bigoted and sinful we can be with the words we write about others. We call
ourselves Christian yet the pictures we post, the cartoons we send around, the
ideas we put forth sometimes are anything but Christian. I guess it is easy to
sit in our homes or offices or be walking down the street and attack a person,
an organization, a political party, a public servant, someone in leadership, or
a president. They get no chance to defend themselves and our words don’t have
to be true. From the comfort of our own electronic device we can post whatever
we want and often there are no consequences to our actions whether we are right
or wrong. Remember it is a free country and certainly free social media!
In the readings from mass today we are
reminded about the importance of truth. Jesus (John 15:26 – 16:4a) reminds us
that he is sending us the truth through the Holy Spirit from the Father, not
Fox News or MSNBC or any other news organization that we agree with. Truth is
most often not found in the media sources of today’s world it is found in the
hearts of people who journey through life as friends of God.
Lydia, whom we meet in the Acts of the
Apostles (Acts 16:11-15) today, went to the river to pray and her life was
changed through the preaching and the presence of Paul. Paul spoke the truth
and Lydia allowed it to enter her heart. She came to believe. She invited the
truth into her home and into her heart.
We need to trust the Spirit in our life
not 24 hour news. We need to speak truth about ourselves and others. We need to
be friends of God who build up not tear down. There are always going to be
those who bring deceitfulness to the living of life may we always be people who
bring truth!
A year or so ago I was wondering through
the social media Twitter I came upon two tweets from Fr. James Martin, S.J.
that I think speaks to our scriptures today. Fr. Martin was talking about Pope
Francis’ visit to the Holy Land. “To those who doubted that Pope Francis could
do anything valuable in the Holy Land, or could find grace among warring
factions, I say...that you've forgotten about the Holy Spirit again. Nothing is impossible with God.”
Have a blessed Monday everyone!
Daily Prayer: Lord Jesus, you
have brought us the gift of abundant life. Give us eyes that can look beyond
the glamor and trivia of the world to the richness of your loving presence as
it comes to us in others, creation and ourselves. Grace us with hope so that we
will not give into despair, anger, vengeance and fear but through hope we will
find the joy, grace and life you came to give us. May we come to know the full
measure of life that you have promised and bring it to others! Amen!
A Runner’s Thoughts: Run with a
strong heart today. If you run in the midst of the ordinary, you will often
find yourself touched by the extraordinary presence of God. Run strong into the
heart of God today!
Daily Blessing: Happy Monday
everyone! I hope your Monday, your week, has started off on the right foot. If
not I pray your fortunes will change as the day and the week goes on. It is a cloudy
morning here in Pelham but hopefully the sun will make an appearance sometime
today. I hope your day will be touched by the sun and the warmth of the many
colors of spring!
My prayer of blessing for all of you on
this Monday is that you like Lydia, in the first reading for today, may hear
the word of God, take it into your heart and allow it to bless you with peace,
hope and joy throughout this day and always! Blessings upon your day, upon all
that you are doing and upon all whom you will meet! May God bless you with the
gift of bringing God’s joy to the world today! Peace in Christ’s Passion and
Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul
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